Rotary annular hopper for carton filling machine



March 15, 1966 n. c. ANDERSON ROTARY ANNULAR HOPPER FOR CARTON FILLING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed 001;. 8, 1962 INVENTOR. DONALD C. ANDERSON ATTORNEY- March 15, 1966 D. c. ANDERSON ROTARY ANNULAR HOPPER FOR CARTON FILLING MACHINE 3 Sheeis-Sheet' 2 Original Filed Oct. 8, 1962 INVENTOR.

DONALD C. Awmsnsou,

ATTORNEY.

March 15, 1966 D. c. ANDERSON 3,240,242

ROTARY ANNULAR HOPPER FOR CARTON FILLING MACHINE Original Filed Oct. 8, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet'S Fig. 3

INVENTOR. DONALD C ANDERSON ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,249,242 ROTARY ANNULAR HOPPER FOR CARTON FILLZNG MACHENE Donahl G. Anderson, Lafayette, Califi, assignor to The Procter and Gamble (Iompany, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Continuation of application Ser. No. 229,845, Oct. 8, 1962. This application Feb. 1, 1965, Ser. No. 432,064

6 Claims. (Cl. 141-284) This is a continuation of application Serial Number 229,045, now abandoned, filed October 8, 1962.

The present invention relates to carton filling machines and more particularly to an improved hopper structure for such machines.

Present day hi h speed carton filling machines are usually equipped with volumetric filling mechanisms. These rely on substantially constant product bulk density in order to maintain the net weight contents of the filled cartons within close limits. In practice, however, the bulk density of the product, e.g. detergent granules and the like, will vary for any number of reasons. One of the principal causes of these variations is the ditferent flow patterns that are established by granules of different sizes. These flow patterns are established as the granules are handled and moved from a storage bin and through the carton filling machine. As a consequence, the granules tend to segregate by size and cause undesirably large variations in the net weight content of the cartons.

One of the objects of this invention is the provision of a novel and improved hopper mechanism particularly adapted for handling detergent granules and like materials and feeding these materials at a substantially constant bulk density to and through a carton filling apparatus.

Another object is to provide a novel and improved hopper construction that is capable of continuous operation at high speed and is so constructed that it is capable of operation with a minimum of maintenance.

Still another object is the provision of a reliable hopper system which balances the significance of the variables which cause variations in product bulk density as the granules are packed into successive cartons on a filling machine.

The present invention can be summarized as being composed of a blending hopper for a volumetric filling mechanism in which the hopper is of annular configuration with steeply converging side walls which terminate at their lower ends in a narrow annular outlet. A plurality of volumetric measuring flasks are mounted beneath the annular outlet and are fed thereby. The annular hopper and the flasks are rotated with respect to the frame of the filling machine and the annular hopper is fed from a stationary off-center inlet so that bulk density variations in the granular material are deposited in a continuous helix above the narrow annular outlet.

While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter regarded as forming the present invention, it is believed the invention will be better understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic side elevation of the hopper system and its relationship to the flasks, funnels and cartons being moved on a conventional rotary carton filling machine.

FIGURE 2 is a detailed cross section in elevation of the annular hopper as well as the volumetric measuring flasks and associated mechanisms.

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the dead plate taken along the line 33 of FIGURE 2 and showing the relationship ice of the dead plate with respect to the incoming empty cartons and the outgoing filled cartons.

The present invention is particularly well suited for use with present day commercial rotary carton filling equipment as used, for example, in the filling of detergent granules cartons and the like. A typical carton filling apparatus to which the invention can be easily adapted is illustrated in US. Patent 2,910,212, which issued on October 27, 1959, to Charles E. Kerr. The invention is also applicable to other types of carton filling machines.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, there is shown a schematic view of the hopper system of the present invention and its relationship to the flasks and funnels of the carton filling apparatus which can be of the type described and illustrated in the aforesaid Kerr patent. The annular hopper 11 is fed from the storage bin 12 through the stationary ofl-center duct 13 and stationary hopper cover 14. The use of a duct 13 which is oil-center with respect to the rotational axis of the hopper i1 is essential as will become more apparent as the description proceeds. Volumetric metering flasks 15 are rotated by the shaft 16 which drives the spider 17. The annular hopper 11 is also rotated by the shaft 16 through the telescoping drive shaft 18. A stationary dead plate 19 is interposed between the annular outlet 26 of the hopper 11 and the flasks 15 for a portion of the rotative cycle of the flasks. The flasks 15 volumetrically measure the granular material fed to them from the hopper 11. At the appropriate time in the cycle when the flasks are below the dead plate 19, a slide gate 23 is moved out from under each flask 15 to permit the granular product to drop into the funnel 21 and then to the cartons 22 moving on the conveyor (not shown) of the filling machine.

Refer now to FIGURE 2 which shows the hopper and flask mechanism in greater detail. The main frame 24- supports the hopper frame 25 which in turn holds the hopper cover 14. A stationary member 26 is also supported by the frame 24.

A series of adjusting screws 27 are rotatable in the bearings 28 and 29 which are secured to the member 26. Each adjusting screw 27 has a pinion gear 30 secured to its upper end which can be rotated by the ring gear 31. A threaded nut 32 is mounted on each of the adjusting screws 27 and supports the ring member 33. A plurality of freely rotatable rollers 34 are mounted around the ring member 33. The ring member 33 also has the support ring 35 secured thereto which in turn holds the dead plate 19 by means of the conventional stud-nut adjustment mechanism 36.

The flasks 15 are composed of a lower telescoping section 37 and an upper telescoping section 38. The lower flask section 37 is secured to the spider 17 which in turn is driven from the shaft 16. The telescoping drive shaft 18 is composed of a lower section 39 which is coupled to the shaft 16 and an upper section 39 which is driven by the spline drive members 41 and 42 which permit relative movement of the sections 39 and 49 with no interruption in power transmission as will be understood by those skilled in the art. The upper flask sections are secured to a flask plate 43 which is reinforced by the spider 44. The flask plate 43 is driven by the spider 17 through the flasks 15. The flask plate 43 is attached to the support ring 45 by means of slide couplings 46. It will be seen that the support ring 45 has a flange 47 which rides on the rollers 34 to permit rotation of the flasks while giving them proper structural support. It will also be evident that rotation of the adjusting screws 27 will raise or lower, as the case may be, the rollers 34 which in turn will adjust the position of the upper flask section 38 as well as the upper shaft section 40. This adjustment is used to vary the volume of the several flasks on the carton filling machine as will be understood by those familiar with machines of this character.

The annular hopper 11 is supported for rotation by the shaft section 40. It is composed of an inner cone frustum 48 having steeply sloping side walls and an inverted outer cone frustum 49 also having steeply sloping side walls. The lower termination of the side walls is at the narrow annular outlet 20 located above the flasks. Braces 5%) can be used to add rigidity to the structure, to properly space the hopper walls and to securely attach them to the shaft section 40. Paddles 51 add rigidity to the structure also, but their principal purpose is to circulate excess granular product across the dead plate 19 and into the empty flasks 15. Best results are obtained in the present invention when the side walls of the annular hopper 11 are at least 60 with respect to the horizontal and with a ratio of at least to 1 of the area at the top of the hopper 11 with respect to the area of the annular outlet 2t).

It will be noted in FIGURE 3 that the dead plate 19 obstructs communication between the annular hopper 11 and the flasks 15 for about 180 of the rotative cycle. The slide gate 23 is opened when the dead plate 19 is interposed to dump granules from the flasks into the cartons. The incoming empty cartons are fed by conventional means from the direction indicated by the arrow A and leave the filling head in the direction indicated by arrow B. During such time as the dead plate does not obstruct communication, the annular outlet 20 freely fills the flasks to a predetermined volumetric capacity.

From the above it will be apparent that bulk density variations will affect the net weight contents of the filled cartons. These density variations are substantially eliminated by the present invention. This is accomplished for several reasons. First of all, the incoming material from the storage bin 12 is fed to the rotating annular hopper 11 at a point which is oft-center with respect to its axis of rotation. As a result, the material is fed into the hopper in the form of a continuous helix. This form of feeding from the storage bin into the hopper tends to smooth over or average out bulk density variations which occur due to segregation in the storage bin.

Furthermore, the conformation of the walls 48 and 49 is comparatively steep to prevent bridging of the granules and therefore all particles flow downwardly in the hopper 11 but not at the same speed. The downward flow pattern in the hopper 11 is known to be such that the particles above the annular outlet move at the fastest average speed; the speed of particles closer to either wall is generally less than the speed of any particle above the annular outlet. This further distributes bulk density variations caused by average particle size variations. The combined effects of this structure and mode of operation result in a mechanism in which the material can be measured in the flasks 15 and subsequently discharged into the cartons 22 within much closer bulk density limits.

While in the above description the flasks 15 and the hopper 11 have been described as rotating at the same speed and in the same direction, this is not essential for the proper functioning of the invention. The annular hopper 11 can be rotated at a greater or lesser speed or even in the opposite direction with respect to the flasks. It is also possible to derive the benefits of the invention by replacing the continuous annular orifice 29 by a series of small orifices arranged in an annular pattern.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.

What is claimed as new is:

1. An apparatus for continuously filling cartons comprising an annular hopper of substantially V-shaped cross section, said hopper having a narrow annular outlet at the bottom thereof, a stationary off-center inlet above said annular hopper for continuously feeding a granular product thereinto, mounting means for supporting a plurality of volumetric metering flasks in closely spaced relationship beneath said narrow annular outlet of said annular hopper, means for rotating said annular hopper about its axis and for rotating the mounting means for the flasks about said hopper rotating axis, an empty carton in position beneath each successive metering flask for movement in unison with the metering flask and to receive granular product therefrom at a predetermined time in the filling cycle, a stationary dead plate interposed between the narrow annular outlet of said annular hopper and said volumetric metering flasks to prevent flow of granular product from said hopper into said volumetric metering flasks for a portion of the rotative cycle of the flasks, a slide gate normally closing the bottom opening of each of said volumetric metering flasks to prevent outflow of granular product therefrom when said flasks are in granular product receiving communication with said annular hopper, the bottom of each metering flask being opened by said slide gate when said dead plate is interposed between the annular hopper and the flask to permit the granular product in each metering flask to flow by gravity into the carton therebelow.

2.. An apparatus for continuously filling cartons as claimed in claim 1 wherein the substantially V-shaped cross section of the annular hopper comprises inner and outer walls each sloping downwardly at an angle of at least with respect to the horizontal, and the area taken in a horizontal plane at the top of the annular hopper between the upper ends of said inner and outer walls is at least ten times the area taken in a horizontal plane of the narrow annular outlet.

3. An apparatus for continuously filling cartons as claimed in claim 2 including a plurality of paddles mounted at spaced intervals around said narrow annular outlet of said hopper to sweep excess granular product across the dead plate and into the volumetric metering flasks as they move from beneath the dead plate.

4. An apparatus for continuously filling cartons comprising an annular hopper of substantially V-shaped cross section, said hopper having a narrow annular outlet at the bottom thereof, a stationary off-center inlet above said annular hopper for continuously feeding a granular product thereinto, mounting means for supporting a plurality of volumetric metering flasks in closely spaced relationship beneath said narrow annular outlet of said annular hopper, means for rotating said annular hopper about its axis and for rotating the mounting means for the flasks about said hopper rotating axis, an empty carton in position beneath each successive metering flask for movement in unison with the metering flask and to receive granular product therefrom at a predetermined time in the filling cycle, a stationary dead plate interposed between the narrow annular outlet of said annular hopper and said volumetric metering flasks to prevent flow of granular product from said hopper into said volumetric metering flasks for a portion of the rotative cycle of the flasks, a slide gate normally closing the bottom opening of each of said volumetric metering flasks to prevent outflow of granular product therefrom when said flasks are in granular product receiving communication with said annular hopper, and a plurality of paddles mounted at spaced intervals around said narrow annular outlet of said hopper to sweep excess granular product across the dead plate and into the volumetric metering flasks as they move from beneath the dead plate.

5. An apparatus for continuously filling cartons as claimed in claim 4 wherein the substantially V-shaped cross section of the annular hopper comprises inner and outer walls each sloping downwardly at an angle of at least 60 with respect to the horizontal, and the area taken in a horizontal plane at the top of the annular hopper between the upper ends of said inner and outer walls is at.

least ten times the area taken in a horizontal plane of the narrow annular outlet.

6. An apparatus for continuously filling cartons comprising a telescoping drive shaft consisting of upper and lower telescoping sections, said upper section being driven by said lower section by means of a spline drive thereby permitting relative movement of the sections while maintaining them in driving engagement, an annular hopper supported by said upper section, said annular hopper having a steeply sloping inner wall shaped in the form of the lateral surface of a cone frustum, said hopper having a steeply sloping outer wall shaped in the form of the lateral surface of an inverted cone frustum, the termination of the tower ends of said side walls being spaced apart to leave a narrow annular outlet, said side walls being at an angle of at least 60 with respect to the horizontal, the area taken in a horizontal plane at the top of said annular hopper being at least ten times the area of said narrow annular outlet, a stationary oif-center inlet above said annular hopper for continuously feeding a granular product thereinto, a plurality of volumetric metering flasks in closely spaced relationship beneath said narrow annular outlet of said annular hopper, each of said volumetric metering flasks comprising an upper telescoping section and a lower telescoping section, the lower sections of said metering flasks being secured to a spider commonly driven with said lower telescoping section of said drive shaft, the upper sections of said metering flasks being supported by a flask plate attached to a support ring by means of slide couplings, said support ring having a flange which rides on a plurality of rollers to permit rotation of the flasks and to give them proper structural support, an empty carton in position beneath each successive metering flask for movement in unison with the metering flask and to receive granular product therefrom at a predetermined time in the filling cycle, a stationary dead plate interposed between the narrow an nular outlet of said annular hopper and said volumetric metering flasks to prevent flow of granular product from said hopper into said volumetric metering flasks for about of the rotative cycle of said volumetric metering flasks, a slide gate normally closing the bottom opening of each of said volumetric metering flasks to prevent outflow of granular product therefrom when said flasks are in granular product receiving communication with said annular hopper, the bottom of each metering flask being opened by said slide gate when said dead plate is interposed between the annular hopper and the flask to permit the granular product in each metering flask to flow by gravity into the carton therebelow, and a plurality of paddles mounted at spaced intervals around said narrow annular outlet of said hopper to sweep excess granular product across the dead plate and into the volumetric metering flasks as they move from beneath the dead plate.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 893,583 7/1908 Hey et al 222370 X 1,458,903 6/1923 Holmquist 222168.5 2,574,231 11/ 1951 Sinden 222370 X 2,910,212 10/1959 Kerr 222-168.5

References Cited by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,360,455 11/1920 Shaw. 1,45 8,903 6/ 1923 Holmquist. 1,850,425 3/ 1932 Taylor.

LOUIS I. DEMBO, Primary Examiner. 

4. AN APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUSLY FILLING CARTONS COMPRISING AN ANNULAR HOPPER OF SUBSTANTIALLY V-SHAPED CROSS SECTION SAID UPPER HAVING A NARROW ANNULAR OUTLET AT THE BOTTOM THEREOF, A STATIONARY OFF-CENTER INLET ABOVE SAID ANNULAR HOPPER FOR CONTINUOUSLY FEEDING A GRANULAR PRODUCT THEREINTO, MOUNTING MEANS FOR SUPPORTING A PLURALITY OF VOLUMETRIC METERING FLASKS IN CLOSELY SPACED RELATIONSHIP BENEATH SAID NARROW ANNULAR OUTLET OF SAID ANNULAR HOPPER MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID ANNULAR HOPPER ABOUT ITS AXIS AND FOR ROTATING THE MOUNTING MEANS FOR THE FLASKS ABOUT SAID HOPPER ROTATING AXIS, AN EMPTY CARTON IN POSITION BENEATH EACH SUCCESSIVE METERING FLASK FOR MOVEMENT IN UNISON WITH THE METERING FLASK AND TO RECEIVE GRANULAR PRODUCT THEREFROM AT A PREDETERMINED TIME IN THE FILLING CYCLE, A STATIONARY DEAD PLATE INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE NARROW ANNULAR OUTLET OF SAID ANNULAR HOPPER AND SAID VOLUMETRIC METERING FLASKS TO PREVENT FLOW OF GRANULAR PRODUCT FROM SAID HOPPER INTO SAID VOLUMETRIC METERING FLASK FOR A PORTION OF THE ROTATIVE CYCLE OF FLASKS, A SLIDE GATE NORMALLY CLOSING THE BOTTOM OPENING OF EACH OF SAID VOLUMETRIC METERING FLASKS TO PREVENT OUTFLOW OF GRANULAR PRODUCT THEREFROM WHEN SAID FLASKS ARE IN GRANULAR PRODUCT RECEIVING COMMUNICATION WITH SAID ANNULAR HOPPER, AND A PLURALITY OF PADDLES MOUNTED AT SPACED INTERVALS AROUND SAID NARROW ANNULAR OUTLET OF SAID HOPPER TO SWEEP EXCESS GRANULAR PRODUCT ACROSS THE DEAD PLATE AND INTO THE VOLUMETRIC METERING FLASKS AS THEY MOVE FROM BENEATH THE DEAD PLATE. 